No less important

Inside sales teams put out the fires, hold down the fort

By -- Industrial Distribution, 11/1/2000

It's a game where everybody wins.

An inside salesperson is more than just a voice over a telephone. He or she is part of any company's frontline. No matter what size distributorship is involved, an inside salesperson fields a myriad of questions from callers both familiar and unfamiliar. It is no secret that this has been the inside salesperson's role for many years.

What has changed, however, is how customers are reached. Through the advent of the fax machine and the Internet, time and distance are far less a hindrance in closing a deal than salespeople ever experienced. An inside salesperson can "touch" or interact with upwards of 50 people in a number of different ways. From mail as it is traditionally defined, to electronic mail and from phoning to faxing, the job of an inside salesperson has gotten easier in one sense and harder in another. Rapid access to information via the computer makes qualifying customers and tracking sales leads less time consuming. With that time freed up, the expectations for success-of clinching the sale-are greater. Still, there's a lot of work and preparation by the salesperson before an end user signs on the dotted line or shakes hands.

It's not that easy

Inside sales is a challenging job "because the person must master the art of prioritizing, making a plan and working it, and at the same time, being flexible enough to modify [it] on the fly," says Don Cunningham, vice president of sales and marketing at Eastern Penn Supply Co.

The muffled sounds of simultaneous, energetic conversations compete with Cunningham's voice as he speaks from his office in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. With 21 years of sales experience, including inside sales, he wouldn't have it any other way. It is the training provided by the distributor of PVF items, building supplies and tools that is partly responsible for the background noise.

To manage and staff an effective inside sales department, training is key, says Cunningham. That includes stress management, day planning, time management and attending seminars to learn how to thrive through the busy waves and make it through the slower days. This can be done-a lot of things can be completed by inside salespeople-as long as they have a system they design for themselves, says Cunningham.

Enter empowerment, the jewel in the salesperson's crown. More is accomplished by giving salespeople the flexibility, some might even say permission, to be responsive and responsible instead of reactive and robotic in how they do their job.

There's no playing down of the value an inside salesperson brings to the company's reputation and bottom-line, concurs John Wiley, sales manager for Hangsterfer's Laboratories, Inc., a manufacturer of metalworking fluids. He's been with the Mantua, N.J.-based company for eight years, in every sales capacity. A team approach, true of most sales functions, keeps the company moving forward. It is the distributor, explains Wiley, working in tandem with the manufacturer, that is a crucial part of closing a sale with an end user.

In his case, an outside salesperson from Hangsterfer's typically accompanies a distributor, so both can meet with an end user and discuss that customer's business needs. Meanwhile, the OEM's four inside salespeople field customer calls. The next step in this supply chain matches a distributor with one of Hangsterfer's seven outside salespeople.

"We work mainly with distributors. That's how we can accomplish a lot with a small number of people," Wiley says.

Of course, each person is ultimately responsible for him or herself-part of a team, but motivated to achieve personal sales goals and win the rewards that follow. It's a tough position for any salesperson and for any company. There's only so long you can put a person on hold before you've lost that customer and damaged a business relationship cultivated after many months or years.

What's worse is testing the patience of a caller by transferring the call from desk to desk to desk. New telephone call centers prevent that, according to many distributors. As does an employee's prerogative to completely follow-through on the call.

"One call does it all" is the philosophy of MSC Industrial Direct Co., a tenet followed by each of the multi-MRO item distributor's 630 inside salespeople.

"Now, more than ever, we're focused on truly understanding the business of our customers and what drives their profitability," Bob Graham, MSC's North Region sales manager, says.

By exceeding the customer's expectations with one call, that customer is likely to continue relying on MSC, explains Graham. Speaking from an office in Pittsburgh, Pa., one of MSC's 97 branches, the near five-year salesman says every inside salesperson is trained beyond technical support and tracking an order. Questions about the caller's credit worthiness can be quickly researched by the inside salesperson, thus speeding up the process. Callers have the option of calling a national 800 number, which will be answered by a salesperson at one of four call centers across the country. For those who prefer a more local touch, customers can dial an 800 number closer to their business or home.

If an MSC telephone rings more than three times and is not answered, the phone call, and the customer on the other end of the receiver, are deemed a "miss." If more than two percent of the calls coming into a branch or call center are misses, "then we're understaffed," says Graham.

Meanwhile, at C.R. Laurence, based in Los Angeles, Calif., a practice long associated with inside sales or telemarketing-cold calls-never happens and never will.

"The emphasis is on nurturing existing relationships with customers and responding to new customers who seek out CRL for the company's diverse products, technical support and industry leadership," says D.J. Friese, vice president of customer service.

C.R. Laurence is a manufacturer and distributor of products for the automotive aftermarket as well as the residential and commercial glass industries.

Think on your feet

Along with time management skills come customer management skills. For instance, at Eastern Penn, vice president of sales and marketing Cunningham instructs his sales team how to field those white-hot calls. There are 128 employees at the company and 63 are in sales; 37 of those people are in inside sales.

"You don't give the squeaky wheels all the grease," Cunningham says about callers demanding priority treatment for their orders. "We train our inside people so they know when it's appropriate to put them at the head of the line.''

Salespeople are motivated when they think of themselves as individual business units, says Cunningham. They are part of a company's team, he adds, and they need to know that.

Cunningham says it is easy for salespeople to get into a rut and feel "beaten up by life and nobody appreciates you-like a politician.''

Still, a sales career can be gratifying. In an industry noted for the business relationships developed over the years between manufacturer and distributor, the relationship between distributor and end user is equally as crucial.

Is salesmanship a natural ability or a learned skill?

Taking ownership in the customer's needs and requests and the ability to work independently and as part of a team are crucial, CRL's Friese explains. But some traits must come naturally and not sound forced, he explains.

"You can teach customer service and product information to a certain limit, but some traits are just inherent. We want our employees to be able to make customers feel that working with CRL is an enjoyable process. The type of friendly dedication needed is often a matter of character and personality."

Learning to put out the fires that come out of nowhere is part of the job.

When "there's an emergency, the inside sales are the first to be called," K-D Supply Co.'s Mark Herrmann, an 11-year sales veteran, says.

They know how to respond to that alarm. The influx of personal computers throughout offices worldwide has cut down the response time to questions about shipping, pricing and stocking. The result is superior customer service.

"Checking inventory with Parker Hannifin while the customer is on the phone used to take 15 to 20 minutes where now, I can do it in a matter of seconds," says Herrmann.

In this instance, the end justifies the means.

"It's challenging at times. It's exciting. It's a good feeling to match the customer with the product," he says.

Twenty-five employees work at the North Tonawanda, N.Y., branch of K-D Supply. Of that number, four people comprise the outside sales team while three people make up the inside sales department. The company supplies hose, tubing and fittings.

Do inside salespeople feel less glorified because they are unseen by the customer, compared to the outside salesperson who is not building-bound? To be sure, there are benefits to putting a face with a name a customer has heard many times over the phone. The glory can be equally shared, Hangsterfer's John Wiley explains.

"They're as responsible for the success of an account, just in a different capacity from the outside salesperson. They are as important in maintaining a good relationship with the customer as the outside salesperson," he says. "Their value shouldn't be underestimated, that's for sure."

Scaling the learning curve